Sales Bore | Media Create And Other Sale Numbers |OT|

[archie4208]

RIP videogame industry.

Does anyone want to go collect some Pogs?

[Tasty]

RIP videogame industry.

Does anyone want to go collect some Pogs?

According to a GAFer, compared to last year total handheld sales are up. ~64k to ~65k. Guess Vita's useful for something at least.

[Stoney Mason]

Damn right you are. After Vita's incredible E3 (the first one?) I would have never, ever, ever thought it would be bombing like this. It was supposed to crush the 3DS after all and fight on level ground with iPad.

Look where it is now, lol.

This has to be trolling. I won't speak for Japan but that thing was dead as a doornail the moment it was announced for the American Market.

[maxy]

good thing that world will end soon

[Momo]

3DS has topped the six million mark in domestic sales, Famitsu.com reported today. According to retail tracker Enterbrain, Famitsu's publisher, the system crossed the mark this past week in its sixty-fifth week since launch.

The system's total from February 26, 2011 through May 20, 2012, is 6,017,206 units.

The previous major sales milestone for the system was the five million mark, which it crossed at the 52 week mark according to Media Create data. The system beat DS and Game Boy Advance to that milestone, making it the fastest system ever to five million.

-adriasang

[Takao]

I always wanted to own a GameGear but was turned off by the fact it looked like it ate batteries like a fiend. Actually, I'd like to own a lot of failed handhelds just for the sake of owning them. Gizmondo had some games that I thought looked pretty cool.

[maxy]

UK 3DS/Vita hardware data leaked

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/3ds-nears-uk-1m-vita-sales-slow-compared-to-psp/096434

Nintendo’s 3DS could hit the 1m unit sales milestone next month.

PocketGamer has reported numbers from GfK Chart-Track’s exclusive hardware reports, which are widely distributed around the press but not authorised for publication.

If the machine does reach that number in June, it will mean that 3DS has taken three months longer than its predecessor the DS.

There is of course a hefty price difference to note between the two machines – the average selling price of a 3DS during its first ten weeks is £202, whereas DS was selling for just £98.

Even now, after Nintendo’s price cut, the 3DS still costs £140.

However, MCV’s figures suggest that Nintendo’s machine may struggle to reach the barrier as soon as June, owing to the increasingly stagnant UK games market.

Total global 3DS sales stood at 17.13m as of the end of March. Nintendo expects unit sales of 18.5m in the current fiscal year.

Sony, by contrast, forecasts 10m Vita unit sales in FY2013. Lifetime sales of its new handheld stand at only 1.8m.

UK Vita sales have just passed the 100,000 unit mark after ten weeks on the market. Worryingly, that’s less than a third of the number PSP shifted in the same time period, although PSP did enjoy a particularly strong start in the UK.

According to a source, this week's Gfk Chart-Track report shows the 3DS has sold nearly 950,000 units after 61 weeks on sale.

[tiesto]

I always wanted to own a GameGear but was turned off by the fact it looked like it ate batteries like a fiend. Actually, I'd like to own a lot of failed handhelds just for the sake of owning them. Gizmondo had some games that I thought looked pretty cool.

I've been getting into GG emulation to catch up on some of what I missed. My brother owned a GG but the only games I've really played for it were Dragon Crystal (my first roguelike, never really became a fan of that genre), Sonic 2, and Defenders of Oasis (which was really good for a portable RPG of the time, great music).

Downloaded the translation of Sylvan Tale and the ROM of Ax Battler to play... Will hopefully be better than the 2 PS spinoffs for the GG, which were ass.

[Tasty]

3DS has topped the six million mark in domestic sales, Famitsu.com reported today. According to retail tracker Enterbrain, Famitsu's publisher, the system crossed the mark this past week in its sixty-fifth week since launch.

The system's total from February 26, 2011 through May 20, 2012, is 6,017,206 units.

The previous major sales milestone for the system was the five million mark, which it crossed at the 52 week mark according to Media Create data. The system beat DS and Game Boy Advance to that milestone, making it the fastest system ever to five million.

-adriasang

Nintendo = third party imminent

[Fifstar]

I can't get rid of the feeling that Nintendo really shot themselves in the foot by naming and designing the 3DS so similar to the DS. Just confusing for parents that want something to keep the kids quiet on a car ride, why they should buy something that sounds and looks the same as 3 other iterations before. And that's not as easy to change as a price.

[cool breeze]

yeah, it's why rumors of Wii U getting a new name aren't wild.  Nintendo cluttered homes with Wii *blank* peripherals for years.

[EmCeeGrammar]

UK numbers suck all around though.  What a lot of people don't realise in the pal charts is that rank means very little.  Whenever we get solid numbers it turns out that things trending in the top ten are selling only a few thousand units.  The top five does only slightly better.  Kinda like the japan situation.

[Trent Dole]

yeah, it's why rumors of Wii U getting a new name aren't wild.  Nintendo cluttered homes with Wii *blank* peripherals for years.

Super Wii would make more sense and follow the whole back to the roots thing they were claiming to set out to do with the Wii.

[Fifstar]

UK numbers suck all around though.  What a lot of people don't realise in the pal charts is that rank means very little.  Whenever we get solid numbers it turns out that things trending in the top ten are selling only a few thousand units.  The top five does only slightly better.  Kinda like the japan situation.

So it's more about who long a game can stay on the charts? Or are sales in general just shit.

Regarding the 3DS numbers in the UK, considering the price difference between 3DS and DS (even after the price drop) those numbers don't look that bad. On the other hand, the original DS wasn't the hottest item either, was it?
In the end it really depends if Nintendo can develop a great update to the 3DS like the DS Lite for the DS. It's gonna be more difficult to get a similar step up, as the 3DS is, even if it's difficult to discern from the DS Lite/i/XL models, not as ugly as the original DS.

[EmCeeGrammar]

I seem to remember that UK sales in particular are pitiful when you get to see the raw numbers instead of dubious rankings.  Its not a region that really matters in a grand scheme.  Kinda like Australia.

[Tasty]

Yes, they are quite low compared to, say, America or Japan, but the 3DS is falling behind the DS even in those pitiful numbers, and we haven't even hit the DS's real take-off point yet.  The 3DS has major issues to tackle in NA and EU and sticking one's head in the sand isn't going to make that go away.

Yes yes Oscar, of course. Revision + NSMB seemed to be the DS's take-off point, and we're likely reaching a similar point later this year for 3DS. I highly doubt Nintendo's buried their heads anywhere (except they ass for Wii U's name.)

[pilonv1]

Yes, they are quite low compared to, say, America or Japan, but the 3DS is falling behind the DS even in those pitiful numbers, and we haven't even hit the DS's real take-off point yet.  The 3DS has major issues to tackle in NA and EU and sticking one's head in the sand isn't going to make that go away.

Yes yes Oscar, of course. Revision + NSMB seemed to be the DS's take-off point, and we're likely reaching a similar point later this year for 3DS. I highly doubt Nintendo's buried their heads anywhere (except they ass for Wii U's name.)

Sounds like you're discounting what Oscar mentioned, the way Nintendo Dogs + Brain Training brought in female/older gamers. I'd argue (outside NA) that they were bigger factors than the revision + NSMB. And all three coming together is the type of lightning in a bottle that you can't replicate. That audience has moved on to smartphones, tablets and facebook gaming.

[Takao]

Hey garbage can man, the game's ancient and the studio who made it is dead, so could you tell me how poorly Folklore sold in North America? Apparently the poor result here was the reason it never became a series (though the game didn't exactly do well in Japan based off the numbers I've seen), and given it came out closer to the $599 era PS3 than the $299 era I'm expecting sub 50k.

[Takao]

Wow, nearly 150k in North America? That's actually pretty good, and I'd expect well beyond dreck like WKC (thankfully). Some guy on GAF said he worked for Game Republic and that they pitched a sequel to Sony, but SCE turned it down because the game didn't sell well enough here. I don't know how they could say 150k are poor sales for this region. It's the only region the game never got a budget reprint in. I take it the game had a long tail? I remember it being on a list of the lowest selling PS3 games SCE published in North America. Now, I have to imagine that list is filled with Move games.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I seem to remember that UK sales in particular are pitiful when you get to see the raw numbers instead of dubious rankings.  Its not a region that really matters in a grand scheme.  Kinda like Australia.

UK is a region? 

Its one country in Europe.

Do you people go to school?

[Takao]

WKC sold a little more, but only a little.

I have to ask what the fuck SCEA is doing when an unadvertised game that took like a year and a half to leave Japan and launched within weeks of Resonance of Fate, and FFXIII still ended up doing 150k, and they pass up the already translated sequel....

[pilonv1]

Luckily no one said Ireland was part of the UK.

[Momo]

Luckily no one said Ireland was part of the UK.

Yeah but you have like Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, South West Ireland, Around-the-corner-from-the-seven-eleven Ireland. It's not like you would have known they were specifically talking about the republic. 

[archie4208]

http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/23/diablo-iii-sells-6-3-million-in-first-week-3-5-million-in-first-24-hours/

PC gaming no longer dead. 

[Momo]

Probably a bunch more will pick it up as they play out the friend pass content

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.vg247.com/2012/05/23/diablo-iii-sells-6-3-million-in-first-week-3-5-million-in-first-24-hours/

PC gaming no longer dead. 

[Tasty]

Vita 6,347

Up by seven this week. Watch out Nintendo!

Am I wrong in thinking that it should have gone up a couple thousand more? I mean, does the post-GW gulch only last one week or is it longer?

[Tasty]

Also the Persona 2 PSP remake bombed, apparently.

[cool breeze]

I like that Andrex only posts negative Sony sales each week 


Didn't Persona 2 for PSP already come out? I'm sure I saw it on PSN once

[Great Rumbler]

Didn't Persona 2 for PSP already come out? I'm sure I saw it on PSN once

Innocent Sin did, but this is Eternal Punishment.

It sold 25,000 in it's first week, by the way.

[Tasty]

Wondering how much of an impact P4G will have... It'll probably bomb too, but at least it will bump the Vita up. I mean, it can't stay at these levels with a game released, can it?

I like that Andrex only posts negative Sony sales each week 

 

It's the stuff I know everyone else is interested in.

[EmCeeGrammar]

Yeah, I used to live in the UK, I know the fucking score.   Pollacks embarassing themselves again.

[cool breeze]

Didn't Persona 2 for PSP already come out? I'm sure I saw it on PSN once

Innocent Sin did, but this is Eternal Punishment.

It sold 25,000 in it's first week, by the way.

reading wiki, Eternal Punishment is Persona 2 on PS1 in America.  Innocent Sin PS1 never came out stateside and is the Persona 2 on PSP.  It's weird that the second of the two came to America first.  At least if Eternal Punishment PSP isn't brought over, the PS1 game could go up on PSN.

 

[Big Barry Jazz]

Number one game of the week is My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute 2 for PSP.

If I were to check what this game was about would some law agency add my name to a list?

[Takao]

Persona 4: The Golden will likely do pretty well. While this means very little, it's ranked pretty high on preorder charts and is one of the top games on Famitsu's Most Wanted list. The older Persona games just aren't that popular compared to the P3/P4 era.

[Great Rumbler]

Persona 3 PSP did 94k first week and 224k overall back in 2009. Of course, Persona 1 PSP did 79k first week and 123k overall in 2009 and Persona 2 Innocent Sin PSP did 62k first week and 94k overall just last year, so Eternal Punishment is incredibly low even by the standards of the other PS1 Personas.

[The Sceneman]

lol Taco

[Takao]

Thanks for paraphrasing my post, Taco-chan.  That was super helpful.  Cuz we're on a new page.

Haha, sorry. I was typing that out before your post showed up.

[Stoney Mason]

Both official statements and anonymous whispers suggest Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning developer 38 Studios is seriously on the rocks, with employees going uncompensated and management resignations.


According to Joystiq‘s sources, 38 Studios employees have not been paid since May 1.

Staffers are normally paid twice a month. The source also noted that employee health care is expected to close down at midnight on Thursday.

The source was uncertain as to whether the studio would close but said the outlook is bleak.

At a press conference following an EDC meeting with 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling, as reported by NBC 10′s Brian Crandall, Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee said experts had advised him Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was a “flop” and definitely “not successful“.

The developer’s senior staff are said to be quitting, with former CEO Jennifer MacLean confirming her departure.

Chafee said he’s doing everything possible to prevent the company’s closure.

The Providence Journal reports 38 Studios has applied for “millions of dollars” in film tax credits but has not yet received the funding; it has also drawn a blank with external investment.

[Great Rumbler]

Sounds like they banked way too hard on pulling in a few guys with deep pockets and then found out that nobody was interested. Too bad, too, because Amalur wasn't half bad.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I fell asleep just looking at screens of Amalur.  It looked like generic westaboo crap.

[Stoney Mason]

Sounds like they banked way too hard on pulling in a few guys with deep pockets and then found out that nobody was interested. Too bad, too, because Amalur wasn't half bad.

Terrible name. Very little marketing. But let's get to the truth. Bethesda had a stranglehold on this genre even before this and especially after Skyrim. There is no reason to make a big budget wanna be Skryrim unless you are going to market the shit out of it which is all kinds of risky, or have it be budget euro style.

[Takao]

Wasn't Amalur an EA partners title? Has any of those, minus Valve, ever been successful?

[Great Rumbler]

Sounds like they banked way too hard on pulling in a few guys with deep pockets and then found out that nobody was interested. Too bad, too, because Amalur wasn't half bad.

Terrible name. Very little marketing. But let's get to the truth. Bethesda had a stranglehold on this genre even before this and especially after Skyrim. There is no reason to make a big budget wanna be Skryrim unless you are going to market the shit out of it which is all kinds of risky, or have it be budget euro style.

Amalur's not really that much like Skyrim, though, it's more like a single-player World of Warcraft.

[Stoney Mason]

Sounds like they banked way too hard on pulling in a few guys with deep pockets and then found out that nobody was interested. Too bad, too, because Amalur wasn't half bad.

Terrible name. Very little marketing. But let's get to the truth. Bethesda had a stranglehold on this genre even before this and especially after Skyrim. There is no reason to make a big budget wanna be Skryrim unless you are going to market the shit out of it which is all kinds of risky, or have it be budget euro style.

Amalur's not really that much like Skyrim, though, it's more like a single-player World of Warcraft.

Which is even worse because nobody wants to play single player World of Warcraft.

[Momo]

Kingdom of Amalur is a thing and it actually came out? I only recall hearing about it last year some time then never again

[Cerveza mas fina]

Single player WoW would have been cool if it was WoW.

[tiesto]

I never played Amalur, I heard that it wasn't too bad if you can get it cheap and have nothing better to play. I hate the art direction though, looks like WOW which I always thought was a hideous looking game...

[Positive Touch]

all i know was the game was so generic, ugly, and boring that i couldn't even finish the fucking demo.

[Great Rumbler]

The thing that really annoys me about Amalur is that I got the impression that this was once a fairly unique game that 38 Studios stepped in and said "make it like this to match our MMO" and it became a really boring game with a lifeless world and a story you don't care about. What's more annoying is that it looks NOTHING like the MMO, so what the fuck was the point?

Yeah, Amalur's biggest problem was how bland and boring the world, story, and art direction are.

[Stoney Mason]

Report: 38 Studios Lays Off Entire Staff
Is the Amalur studio shutting its doors?
by Andrew Goldfarb MAY 24, 2012

Following recent financial problems, reports are indicating that the entire staff of 38 Studios has been laid off.

According to Kotaku, Big Huge Games was shut down by 38 Studios earlier today. Following that news, The Verge reports that 38 has let go its entire staff.

For now these reports are unconfirmed, but we’ve reached out to 38 Studios to try to clarify the situation. In addition to the release of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in February, 38 recently revealed its MMO, Project Copernicus.

We’ll continue to update this story as we learn new information.

RIP Big Huge Games.

Rise of Nations was the only rts I ever liked.

[Great Rumbler]

That was quick.

[pilonv1]

That was quick.

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/171015/38_Studios_Big_Huge_Games_lay_off_their_entire_staff.php

[Update: During a Rhode Island press conference this afternoon, Governor Lincoln Chafee said that 38 Studios ran into such dire financial trouble in part because Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning failed to live up to expectations.

"The game failed," Chafee said, noting that in order to break even, the game needed to sell more than 3 million copies, and it unfortunately did not come close to hitting that lofty goal.]

Who in their right mind would have thought this was a good business model? The desire for everyone to have a AAA title is killing developers.

[Takao]

Wow, more than 3 million. Few games can reach that milestone, and even fewer from an upstart studio. I have to question the sanity of the management staff to allow budgets that would require those numbers.

[Timber]

The actual sales of Amalur (1.5m or something?) would have been enough to keep Big Huge alive and well if they didn't have to support the bloated 38 Studios and their chasing-the-big-2006-MMOney pipedream as well.

[Timber]

> Get loan of 75 mil under the condition that your company has to employ 450 people by 2013.
> Release absolutely nothing for years on end except for a modest financial success from a sattelite studio.
> Slowly come to realize that you have to pay the wages of hundreds of people and pay off your loan without a steady source of income.
> Welp!

[Great Rumbler]

The actual sales of Amalur (1.5m or something?)

That sounds about right. It did 410k in the US in the first two months, through in a few digital sales, Europe, and some unsold copies sitting on store shelves and it probably comes out to around that.

Edit:

Any new intellectual property has it hard these days, but Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning seems to be doing okay with 410,000 copies sold in the US since launching a couple months back. WPRI.com reports the RPG from 38 Studios and Big Huge Games moved another 80,000 units in March, according to NPD data.

As NPD spokesman David Riley notes, it's "an impressive figure for just two months, no matter how you slice it."

It's even more impressive when one takes into consideration the data only covers the US and doesn't tally PC sales made through digital distribution networks (as EA recently stressed). In that case, the Reckoning portion of the Amalur franchise is doing well for a new IP.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/18/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-sales-surpass-410-000/

Whoops!

[D3RANG3D]

The game is still 60 bucks on steam lol

[Great Rumbler]

I got it for $30 on Amazon [boxed version].

[D3RANG3D]

I got it for $30 on Amazon [boxed version].

I wouldn't pay more than 5-10 bucks for it personally it should have come with a sleeping bag preorder bonus